Protecting students in Grand Gedeh from the risk of Ebola

Protected and happy: students at the hand washing station built and installed by ActionAid Liberia.

Photo: ActionAid Liberia

Liberia has hadno new case of Ebola for more than three weeks and the nation has now begun the countdown to being transmission free. However, there are still heightened risks of infection and spread

With schools now reopened in Liberia, the level of risk of infection amongst children of school-going ages has increased. To ensure that children in the communities where ActionAid works, we are providing water, sanitation and health (WASH) support to schools with emphasis on infection prevention and control (IPC).

At each school we donated IPC materials including the following: an innovative eight faucet hand washing station, personal protective equipment, sanitation kits and fever monitoring kits. Within each school, ActionAid supported the formation of two teams: a four-person school safety committee and a three-person fever monitoring team.

Each school safety committee is responsible for ensuring that the hand washing stations throughout the school have hand washing solution at all times and that students are regularly and properly washing their hands. The committee is also responsible for ensuring that the sanitary conditions throughout the school are maintained at all times. The fever monitoring team at each school is responsible for regularly checking students’ temperatures.

Teachers, janitors, community leaders, the school safety committee, the fever monitoring team and PTAs were trained on the IPC and WASH protocols for safe schools (developed by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and partners) and the proper referral pathway with county health team for Grand Gedeh.

This support to schools in Grand Gedeh was made possible by a donation from the Big Lottery Fund.